The engine in my SPI is about to be rebuilt, so I'm trying to decide on a new cam profile.
Some considerations...
- The car will be used as a daily driver, consisting of town driving as well as regular motorway trips, with the odd B-road blast thrown in on the weekends of course.
- It's a standard SPI Cooper with a John Cooper Garages "Si" conversion - basically consisting of a K&N filter element, ported head, standard 33x29 valves in this case, and skimmed for slightly higher compression (likely somewhere in the region of 10.5:1).
- It's got 1.5 rockers and a Maniflow LCB+RC40 exhaust - no catalytic converter, luckily it's an early 1992 so can get away with that at MOT time.
- It runs a 3.2 final drive and 12" wheels which I'll be keeping, at least for now until I eventually decide to do a 10" conversion
- The SPI injection system, ECU etc is all standard and will be remaining as such.
Basically I'm not after bucketloads of top end power, I already get that from my other car which has a fairly wild 1330 with a Swiftune SW8 cam and various mods pushing 100+hp - and that's plenty fun enough! I'd rather prioritise low-end drivability and torque with this car, as well as fuel economy and emissions.
With all that in mind I was eyeing up a Swiftune SW5, but have also seen that Kent's MD274 and MD274SP (scatter pattern) profiles are popular upgrade options for injected cars. I've also heard good things about AC Dodd's cams, and he suggests a mild profile like that used in Mighty Minis would be well suited to an SPI.
I'd be keen to hear any thoughts or suggestions on these options, or if there are any others I should be considering.
Thanks in advance!
